How AFL footy festival Gather Round came to Barossa Valley after missing out to Mount Barker

The Barossa Valley missed out to Mount Barker in the first two years of Gather Round. This is the story of how the small town of Lyndoch landed the footy festival — and the people behind it.

Premier Peter Malinauskas was insistent.

For the Barossa Valley to host Gather Round, they needed to find a site that could best promote the tourist region and South Australia to the rest of the nation.

“The prime thing the Premier was looking for were hills and grapevines,” Barossa mayor Bim Lange tells this masthead.

“That was the visual impact he was keen to portray on national television.”

Malinauskas wanted a venue that looked unlike other urban ovals.

That ruled out a revamped Tanunda – long mooted as the likeliest choice – because it was surrounded by houses.

Nuriootpa’s oval was inspected and rejected.

Late in 2023, the council came to Malinauskas with what it believed was the ideal location.

Lyndoch Recreation Park had ranges to the east, vineyards to the north and plenty of space to create two AFL-sized ovals as well as a multi-sport hub.

Barossa Council had planned to redevelop the site, but it would have taken several years.

Winning over Malinauskas and the state government secured $20m to get the project moving, cutting the timeline to 12 months while locking in SA’s only two regional Gather Round matches in 2025.

Rolling hills were part of the selling point for Lyndoch. Picture: Russell Millard Photography

Lange had to keep it secret until AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon and the Premier announced the $45m redevelopment at the newly named Barossa Park at Lyndoch last April.

“Once the Premier looked at this place, then we started doing behind the scenes numbers, he said ‘this is what I really wanted’,” he says.

The ground’s picturesque views are the type you see in tourism commercials.

That part of region was where the Barossa name started.

Colonel William Light bestowed it on those hills surrounding Lyndoch in 1837, a year after he founded Adelaide.

He named the town after Lord Lynedoch, a famous Lieutenant-General and victor of the Battle of Barrosa in the Peninsula Wars in Spain, where Light participated as a young officer.

There’s a new AFL venue in the Barossa. Picture: Russell Millard Photography

The change rooms. Picture: Russell Millard Photography

The interchange bench. Picture: Russell Millard Photography

When the AFL’s newest venue hosts North Melbourne versus Gold Coast on Saturday, April 12 then Richmond and Fremantle the next day, every centre bounce will broadcast the ranges on the eastern wing to a national audience.

Shots at goal to the northern end will beam images of the Kies Family Wines vineyard.

To the south and east are other elements that scream grassroots footy.

Barossa Valley Pigeon Racing Club is nestled in a shed on an embankment behind the southwestern pocket of the main oval.

Out the back of the new clubrooms to the west is an unused rail line, which a stone train traversed from a nearby quarry to Adelaide’s northwestern suburbs from 1950 until 2014.

“There’s a real country, community feel,” the council’s director of infrastructure, Ben Clark, says.

Barossa mayor Bim Lange at Barossa Park. Picture: Russell Millard Photography

Bringing the footy festival to the region – after missing out to Mount Barker in the first instalments of Gather Round in 2023 and 2024 – is extra special for Lange.

He has always lived in Williamstown, a town of about 3000 people, an eight-minute drive from Barossa Park.

The 73-year-old has been involved in local government for more than five decades, starting as a grave digger when he was about 21 for the former District Council of Barossa.

Lange built roads for years before becoming director of works and engineering.

After a short “retirement” he was elected as a councillor, then he became mayor in 2018.

Lange is also a big footy fan.

The Crows supporter played juniors at Lyndoch, then joined Williamstown, making his A-grade debut at 15 and later captaining the club.

Lyndoch merged with Williamstown to form Barossa Districts and Lange played in its premiership in 1982 under Mike Burns, the father of ex-Collingwood skipper turned Adelaide assistant Scott Burns.

“I’d played football here and at Williamstown with mud around your ankles in the middle of winter and here kicking up or downhill all the time,” says Lange, who is nicknamed Bim because as children his brother mispronounced Jim – his middle name is James.

“To do what we’ve been able to achieve here, I never imagined it in my lifetime.”

The Roos and Suns will be the first to do battle at Barossa Park. Picture: Russell Millard Photography

The Barossa Valley is an area rich in football history.

Its shared local competition with Gawler features some of the best players outside the SANFL.

West Coast premiership captain Shannon Hurn (Angaston) and Port Adelaide great Justin Westhoff (Tanunda) headline the area’s footy exports.

A key moment in bringing Gather Round to the region came two years ago when the council bought Burge Family Winemakers’ vineyard land at Lyndoch for $1.6m.

That allowed for the creation of a second AFL-sized oval and new netball courts at Barossa Park.

Clark has overseen the project for the council.

The dreadlocked, 39-year-old Hawthorn fan stood Malinauskas during a lower-grade game between Elizabeth and the Premier’s Adelaide University team, the “Scum”, in 2023.

“I smashed into him a few times and I said ‘I’ll let you get a kick if you give us some money for this project’,” Clark says with a smile.

At the press conference at Barossa Park in April, Malinauskas gave him a shout-out along the lines of: “Ben, you’ve been asking for money for this project, now you’ve got to get it built”.

Demolition work started a few hours after that.

About 140 staff were on site in the early days to keep on top of the strict timeline.

Now, there are 20-odd, putting on finishing touches.

Once the builder hands the keys to the council on Friday, the main things remaining are the AFL installing temporary grandstands and coaches boxes next month.

“Even if you take out the link to footy, which I love, you look at the project and what it means for the community, you might get one of these in your life, if you’re lucky,” says Clark, who has been in his role for three years.

“It’s something I’m looking forward to enjoying in a few weeks’ time.

“The AFL comes in for a weekend, but for the other 51 weeks of the year it’ll be for the local community.”

Barossa Park mid-construction. Picture: The Barossa Council

Barossa District footballers and netballers will use the ground as its home base from May, moving from Williamstown.

Along with Aussie rules, netball and pigeon racing, Barossa Park will host cricket, lawn bowls, tennis and junior athletics.

The council hopes to stage concerts and other marquee events there.

But the immediate focus is Gather Round.

The Barossa has hosted AFL pre-season matches, never games for premiership points.

Initial tickets to both clashes immediately sold out after they were released in December.

Free buses will transport people to the game from Adelaide.

Adding to the carnival atmosphere, Tanunda – a 15-minute drive from Lyndoch – is holding a state clash between the SANFL and VFL after the Kangaroos-Suns match.

Barossa and Mount Barker councils have swapped stories on how it all comes together.

For Lange, the fact the AFL world will turn its spotlight onto his local area in six weeks is starting to feel real.

“It’s really exciting to say the least,” he says.

Originally published as How AFL footy festival Gather Round came to Barossa Valley after missing out to Mount Barker